blog devoted to CNN International Business anchor, Richard Quest, who looks like a cross between Roger Daltry and a Muppet. You have to see him to believe him...

Comments by: YACCS

 
RICHARD TANGLES WITH A DIVA

Hello, did you miss me? I've missed you! Sorry to be so long between posts but haven't had much time to catch up on all things Richard lately.

Luckily, TMM (the mainstream media) mentioned our boy today.
Richard made it in the "Lowdown" gossip column for The New York Daily News.

Apparently, Richard's in New York, covering Fashion Week.

Lloyd Grove reports:

That was Naomi Campbell living up to her superdiva reputation by keeping a CNN crew waiting two hours for an interview in the Bryant Park tents Wednesday. When she finally showed up in the W Hotels' Backstage Bungalow to tape the segment, she caused interviewer Richard Quest to erupt in laughter when she insisted:

"I'm very, very sensitive. Things affect me deeply. I'm a very sweet, very kind person."

posted by Team at 6:22 PM

 
We're Back...

First, our hearts go out to all our readers in London or with family and friends in London at this time. We hope all is safe with you and yours. We're sure Richard was up 24/7 anchoring CNN International's AM shows to cover the tragedy.

Secondly, Richard's new show has debuted or mebbe it's just his promo. Apparently, it premiered on Monday, July 4th.

Oh, how we wish we could have seen it but the bloody heads at CNN US don't see fit to share the Questy goodness with us Stateside.

O well, the lovely ladies at the Richard Quest forum on Proboards are doing a great job at giving us an idea of what the first episode was like. Apparently, Richard is a man of action, breeding and, um, endowment.

He did segments while riding a horse, climbs a rock, and undergoes an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The girls on the boards are all agog about whether he's naked under a sheet for the last bit and what bits may be visible.

O, to have a screen cap of that!
posted by Team at 7:06 PM

 

Dearest Reader,
I've something to ask of you. I am hearing impaired and am trying to raise money to purchase a new set of hearing aids. Shamefully, in the US, medical insurance does not cover the cost of hearing aids or accessories. So I have to raise USD $4000 to replace my current hearing aids which are 11 years old. My current salary and expenses cannot accomodate this cost and I'm asking everyone I know for help.

If you've enjoyed what this site has to offer, would you please contribute to my hearing aid fund? You can make a donation via the paypal button or email me and I can send you details and my mailing address.

Excuse the imposition, but I'm asking all my friends and I consider readers of Quest Quips my friends.

If you know of programs that provide grants for purchasing hearing aids, please let me know about those too. Thanks, A. Crew.
posted by Team at 11:41 AM

 
In Quest of "Quest"

Sorry for the delay but Blogger was up and down with maintenance delays. So we are back with more news about Richard.
First, if you can't get enough about Richard, do check out a discussion group/forum devoted to him here.

E in Germany provides us with much good news- she writes:

Oh dear me. I had seen somewhere a passing mention of
him having a new show [it's a one-hour special, really], but didn't believe it. Then I
turned on the TV yesterday, tuned of course to CNN,
and caught the tail end of an ad for it. Entitled
"Quest", it's a quest for the basis of creative
genius. Or something. Anyway, first show (airing
next Saturday), he tries his hand at standup comedy.

Funny, that. Usually he does sit-down.

OK...moving right along! He does indeed have at least
a minute with Jon Stewart, both of them sitting on the
steps at the front of JS's set. And some sort of a
brief piece with Billy Connolly, who is very
definitely a Scot and appears to be a comic. Should
be interesting... "So a Scot and a Yorkshireman go
into a bar..."

And, there is at least one piece on the upcoming BT
about food. Again. The lucky devil went to Lyon,
France, which is nothing basically but one *very*
large restaurant with a few museums, churches, and
businesses scattered around the edges.

I'm beginning to think he's got serious food issues...
the Black Forest gateau in March, plus various tastes
of everything going during his cooking lesson, clam
chowder on the Pier in San Francisco last month, and
now Lyon. If you can't find something to eat in Lyon,
you're not trying. I just wish I had his metabolism!

During the wedding telecast, he cornered some wedding
guest on the street afterwards, apparently she's a
well-known comedic actress. She commented that
Camilla was just a tiny little slip of a thing, and
Richard made some sort of noise of disbelief. Her
response was, "Oh yes, you do know TV cameras put at
least 10 pounds on you... Well, except for you.
[looks him over] You'd find more fat on a French
fry!" I think he actually blushed.

He hasn't been on at all in the mornings since two
weeks ago when I wrote you, although he *was*
anchoring Business International on Friday. Hopefully
he's coming back to the morning show, and not
abandoning it in favor of his new venture.

Quest debuts for those lucky enough to get CNN International on April 30th and May 1. Check your television schedules for exact broadcast dates. Ooo, we're so envious of you over there in Europe and Asia.
posted by Team at 8:39 PM

 
March 10, 2005



10 March

[report from CEBIT about mobile music, closes with a close-up of a *very* old record player playing a crackly record]

Richard: [winding motion] I've still got one -
Andrea: I know you do.
Richard: I do! [still winding] And not only do I have a wind-up gramophone, I also have a phonograph.
Andrea: Richard's very old-school.
Richard: Just old. Coming up next -
Andrea: You are now. That's right!...

….

Richard: In the next hour of the show we'll have the world's #1 dog show, Cruft's, which gets under way in the United Kingdom. What makes a do a top dog? We have an expert, we have a dog, and we have a career-threatening segment.

[and they never HAD the dog. They brought it out into the wings right near the end, you could hear the handler talking to the dog and at one point the dog whined, but the dog itself never made an appearance. I want my money back!]

…..

[Richard had been whinging apparently for quite some time about the weather, so Jenny Harrison did a sunshine search, found high temps and sun in the Seychelles]

Jenny: I seem to think I know a man not too far away from here who could like that sort of weather.
Richard: You're the sort of woman my mother warned me about, Miss Harrison.
Jenny: So you often say. Oh dear, well, you have a nice day.
Richard: Well, you know, you temptress, you, you're showing me hot sunny spells in the Seychelles and all I've got is a maximum of 0 degrees in London.
Jenny: You see, now, you've not been paying attention, have you? Nine degrees in London today, and with some sunshine. Sounds pretty good really. Not 31 degrees, but it's not bad.
Richard: I was gonna say, sounds pretty good if you're in the Seychelles at 31 degrees. All right, well… [transition]

….

The curtain rises on CEBIT, and if you're like me and you believe that music should have a crackle to it, well, this new-fangled technology that's coming to mobile phones, well, it's, it's, it's a learning curve, an experience. Mallika Kapur will be our tutor.
posted by Team at 10:37 PM

 
Have we been neglecting you?

So sorry, I've been v v busy. and so has Richard. E in Germany sends us a delightful note echoing our concern about RQ's health as he seems to spend more than 7 days on the air covering the Pope's funeral and Prince Charles's wedding.

She writes:
So, he was at the desk from the 28th of March to the 1st of April, including one day that week when Monita didn't show and he was all on his own for three hours
(VERY dangerous, I think). He was there on the 2nd of April, and you caught him reporting from Rome on the 3rd. He was freezing various bits of his anatomy off
in Rome from the 4th through the 8th, caught a flight to London that day, taped some segments in London and Windsor (still wearing his funeral suit; Richard, how
tacky!) that same day, then spent at least 10 hours on the 9th reporting live from Windsor.

So I turn on my TV this morning at 5 in the morning London time (and remember, we know from his whinging about holidays he has to get in there at 3 in the
morning), and I figure it'll be Charles Hodson or something. But nooooo, it's Energizer Richard! Whatever he's taking, I want some. Sitting in a very
deadly dull presentation this morning, I did a count and realized out of the last 15 days, he's been live on camera on 14 of them.

However, he's escaped twice in a row from whoever dresses him in the morning. Saturday his suit was quite nice, but his tie looked like one of my cats had
eaten a whole can of tomato sauce, washed it down with cranberry juice, and then recycled it onto the carpet.

THis morning, again, quite nice gray suit with a lighter pinstripe in it. With a sort of golden-orange polka-dot tie. My eyes do not need that at 6 in the
morning!

And, I knew I should have hopped a plane and gone to Windsor once Monita said he'd be out there covering it. I swear to goodness, if there was an American
woman on the sidewalk, he had his arm around her!!!

Only the Americans, mind you, although he does seem to be a "touchy" kind of guy anyway [Editor's note: I'll be happy to test E's theory about Richard's touchy-feely ways around Americans].

Anyhoo...nothing much of interest on Business Traveller. But loads of good stuff from the wedding; I'll try to get a bunch of transcripts later this
week.

Perhaps Richard's gone color-blind from the fatigue.
posted by Team at 10:30 AM

 
----------------- more from the 3/24 broadcast, as transcribed by E in Germany
Abbott and Costello, live on CNN:

Richard: Now, before we go a moment further I want to update you on a little bit of something. A moment ago, we were just saying, Monita and I, that Prince Rainier [of Monaco] is the second-longest-reigning monarch in the world, and that of course immediately begs the question that I'm sure many of you are asking yourselves. Who's the longest-reigning monarch? [shuffles paper and looks innocent]
Monita: So who is the longest-reigning monarch?
Richard: I'm sorry?
Monita: Who is it?
Richard: Who it is?
Monita: The longest.
Richard: The longest-reigning monarch?
Monita: Yeah.
Richard: [bites lip, shuffles paper, looks innocent] I…I…[shuffles paper] I'll tell you at the end…I'll tell you before we go to the break.
Monita: Ooh, he's teasing us.
Richard: Tell you before we go to the break. All right, let's move on…

(reports; presumably CNN staff are furiously googling)

Richard: Interesting discussion there on corporate governance.
Monita: Mmm-hmm. Absolutely. Coming up –
Richard: [bunch of inarticulate babble and hand-waving] Now come on, you're getting previous.
Monita: Am I?
Richard: You are.
Monita: Oh, sorry, forgot about the little bit of trivia that you had found out for us.
Richard: LITTLE BIT of trivia? This is the longest-reigning monarch in the world!
Monita: OK, the big bit of trivia that you found.
Richard: King Rama the Ninth of Thailand. He ascended the throne in the 1940s.
Monita: Hmm, so, 3 years, then [longer than Prince Rainier]
Richard: Yes, but he didn't become king until 1950, because he was under age and he ruled with a regent for the first few years of his reign, and then became king. So—
Monita: So, technically, would he still be the longest-running –
Richard: Yes.
Monita: The longest-serving monarch.
Richard: Yes, yes he would, I think, because he ascended to the throne but he ruled with a regent, he just didn't take the title. Well, I'm glad we clarified that for you!
Monita: Good to know. The things you learn every day here on CNN.
Richard: Coming up…[transition]
posted by Team at 6:26 PM

 
And we're back. We took a trip to Paris at the end of February. We've also gained a new correspondent-E from Germany has graciously contributed new transcripts. So check back every other day for fresh quips.

Here's Richard's take on Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles's upcoming royal wedding in Britain.

Richard: Now, weddings are often elaborate events, steeped in cultural traditions.

Monita: Yes, yes, they are.

Richard: Good, we agree on that! Now, couples often try to put their own personal stamp on their special day.

Monita: Well, how can a bride and groom express dedication to the environment as well as each other? Mallika Kapur takes us behind the scenes of an eco-wedding.

(report)

Monita: I think that's quite admirable, I think it's very nice, I mean, they're doing their bit in their own little way.
Richard: Fine. I was going to talk to you about the royal wedding.
Monita: Well go on then.
Richard: April the 8th. CNN will have full coverage, we're hoping to be live in Windsor, where the wedding is taking place. Now, now, this more interesting stuff.
Monita: Oh, sure. Yeah.
Richard: We'll be live, we might even be there for CNN Today, when the ceremony takes place, which we won't see, and then we'll be seeing them afterwards. Well, I mean, we won't be seeing them, I mean –
Monita: I think we understand. I think it's a great, I think it'll be a great show, it'll be a great time for them.
Richard: A SHOW?! A great show? It's a wedding!
Monita: Yeah, but come on, everyone's going to be watching, so at the end of the day it's going to be a great show. I mean, not necessarily for them, but for everyone else.
Richard: [Juggles imaginary items and sings the circus theme] It's not a show, it's a wedding!
Monita: All right, well, let's hope we have some good weather for them [transition to weather]
posted by Team at 12:02 PM